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Sennelager is a village in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
that forms part of the City of
Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...
. It is notable for its association with the military since the 19th century.


Location

Sennelager lies around 5 km north of Paderborn city centre in the west of the landscape "Senne". The area falls under the administration of the / wards of the city. To the south between Sennelager and the city of Paderborn is Schloss Neuhaus, to the west Sande, and to the north
Hövelhof Hövelhof is a municipality in the district Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 14 March 2012, Hövelhof can use the official additive ''Sennegemeinde'' (English: "Senne municipality"). Geography Hövelhof is located in the Se ...
.


History

The name ''Sennelager'' literally translates as "camp on the Senne", a name originating from 1851 when the
Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
used the area as a training camp for their
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...
. At the time, the area belonged to what was then the Neuhaus region and was largely unpopulated. This camp later expanded into a full training facility for the armed forces, most notably during the reign (1888–1918) of
Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
. The word ''Senne'' itself derives from the old
Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...
word ''sinedi'', meaning "sand". During World War I a POW camp here housed British and French soldiers as well as, in a distinct section, various civilians.International Committee of the Red Cross - Comité International de la Croix-Rouge (ICRC) ''Rapports de visites aux camps de prisonniers en Angleterre, France et Allemagne.'' Documents de la Guerre de 1914-1918. Genève-Paris, Mars 1915. pp.67-70. These were merchant seamen, including many British trawlermen taken prisoner after German raiders sank their ships in the North Sea, especially in the first days of the war. Many of the fishermen came from
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
or from
Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...
in Lincolnshire. Many were later transferred to Ruhleben internment camp near Berlin, where many remained for the duration of the war. During the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
used the village as a military loading station, and the village's
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
shows signs of this – there are facilities for loading military vehicles onto trains which are still regularly used by the British and German armies. The Catholic order of the
Salvatorians The Society of the Divine Saviour ( la, Societas Divini Salvatoris), abbreviated SDS and also known as the Salvatorians, is a clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church. The members of the congrega ...
, who were based in the still-standing Heilandsfrieden House, was disbanded and driven out of Sennelager by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
in 1941; they were forbidden to settle anywhere in Westphalia or in the Rhineland. At the end of World War II in 1945, the historic military base passed first briefly into the administration of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
, before a more long-term handover to the British who use the Sennelager Training Area and as the base for their
Westfalen Garrison Westfalen Garrison is a major British garrison with facilities located in Paderborn, Sennelager and Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany which now forms the major part of British Forces Germany. It was the home of 20th Armoured Infantry ...
. On May 26, 1965, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited "The British Army of the Rhine" at Sennelager camp.


Connections

The former
Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
runs through the village, which is now Bielefelder Straße; this now runs through to the northerly-lying village of
Hövelhof Hövelhof is a municipality in the district Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 14 March 2012, Hövelhof can use the official additive ''Sennegemeinde'' (English: "Senne municipality"). Geography Hövelhof is located in the Se ...
. The B68 has since been replaced by the north–south A33, which can be accessed at the Paderborn-Sennelager junction. Sennelager train station is served by a regular train service operated by
Veolia Transport Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the ...
-owned NordWestBahn that runs between the Paderborn main station and
Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
. The service operates on an hourly basis, although train times are different on Monday to Friday mornings to allow a higher number of services to run to allow for the considerable commuter traffic. Two regular bus services, the number 1 and the number 420, connect Sennelager to Paderborn City Centre.


Culture

Modern culture in Sennelager is largely influenced by the presence of the
British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...
in the village. The area contains several British settlements, and businesses have opened there largely to cater for this market, including a "traditional" British corner shop (Little England), several tax-free car dealerships and some British pubs. There is also an industrial estate containing a
NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...
supermarket (only accessible to forces personnel and their families), car dealership and electrical goods dealer (SSVC). In a play on old Carlsberg beer advertisements from the 1980s, many British soldiers use the phrase "Sennelager: probably the worst lager in the world" to refer to the training area.


Education

There used to be three British schools, two First schools (one being
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
School, named after the poet, and the other Robert Browning School, named after the writer who wrote the Pied Piper story set in
Hamelin Hamelin ( ; german: Hameln ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. ...
(Hameln) . There was also one middle school called John Buchan Middle School, which used to educate the children of the British families resident in the area. When the children reached year 9 they would go on to Kings School in
Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...
which was about 45 minutes away. The secondary school closed in 2019 and the two First schools in Sennelager have amalgamated to create a single primary school known as Attenborough Primary School. There is also a primary school, a Catholic and a civic
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
for the German residents. Children of German families in the area generally go on to attend secondary school in Schloß Neuhaus or Paderborn itself.


References


External links

*
TuS Sennelager
{{Authority control Paderborn Villages in North Rhine-Westphalia